1862 BATTLE AT FORT TOOTHMAN WAR MEMORIAL MURAL

During the Battle of Island Mound (aka “Battle of Fort Toothman” or “Fort Africa”) on October 28–29, 1862, the Union 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers—composed of former Arkansas and Missouri slaves—and a scouting team of Cherokee and blacks from the 5th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry engaged a numerically superior force of Confederate guerrillas and recent Missouri State Guard recruits led by Vard Cockrell and Bill Truman (who was related to future President Harry S. Truman). The Union forces had crossed into Missouri on a mission to clear Confederate guerrillas from their base known as “Hog Island” in the Osage River.